A less-than-stellar return / Schmidt gives up six runs in his shortest outing of the year

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, August 29, 2004

Photo: GREGORY SMITH

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San Francisco Giants starter Jason Schmidt leaves the field after being pulled against the Atlanta Braves during the fourth inning Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, at Turner Field in Atlanta. Schmidt gave up six run to the Braves in four innings. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith) less

San Francisco Giants starter Jason Schmidt leaves the field after being pulled against the Atlanta Braves during the fourth inning Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, at Turner Field in Atlanta. Schmidt gave up six run to ... more

Photo: GREGORY SMITH

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San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou looks in the turf as he watches his team play the Atlanta Braves during the eighth inning, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Braves won 9-3. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith) less

San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou looks in the turf as he watches his team play the Atlanta Braves during the eighth inning, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Braves won 9-3. (AP ... more

Atlanta Braves closer Juan Cruz, center, celebrates with pitching coach Leo Mazzone (54) and Andruw Jones, left, after their 9-3 win over the San Francisco Giants, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, at Turner Field in ... more

Photo: GREGORY SMITH

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Atlanta Braves Eli Marrero, center, scores off a Paul Byrd hit against San Francisco Giants starter Jason Schmidt, left, as Giants catcher Yorvit Torrealba (8) waits for a late throw during the fourth inning, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Braves won 9-3. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith) less

Atlanta Braves Eli Marrero, center, scores off a Paul Byrd hit against San Francisco Giants starter Jason Schmidt, left, as Giants catcher Yorvit Torrealba (8) waits for a late throw during the fourth inning, ... more

Photo: GREGORY SMITH

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Atlanta Braves Paul Byrd (36) hits a single against the San Francisco Giants to bring in Charles Thomas, rear, to score, with Giants catcher Yorvit Torrealba, left, during the second inning, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Braves won 9-3. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith) less

Atlanta Braves Paul Byrd (36) hits a single against the San Francisco Giants to bring in Charles Thomas, rear, to score, with Giants catcher Yorvit Torrealba, left, during the second inning, Saturday, Aug. 28, ... more

Photo: GREGORY SMITH

A less-than-stellar return / Schmidt gives up six runs in his shortest outing of the year

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2004-08-29 04:00:00 PDT Atlanta -- The groin was fine. So was the arm. But not the results.

Jason Schmidt returned to the mound after a 10-day layoff, eager to heighten the Giants' playoff hopes and boost his standing as the leading candidate for the Cy Young Award, but few positives could be yanked from a 9-3 loss to the Braves Saturday.

Schmidt lasted 32/3 innings and surrendered six runs and a season-high 10 hits in his shortest outing of the year, leaving the Giants down 0-2 in a four-game series with rookies Brad Hennessey and Noah Lowry as their next two starting pitchers.

"We want to win here in the next couple of days and stay close," manager Felipe Alou said. "With the wild card, you're never too far behind.

"There are teams six or seven or eight games out that think they'll win. They're not going to win," Alou said. "Too many teams are ahead of them. You've got to stay close. Within five games is reasonable. Any more than that is almost impossible."

The Giants remain one game back of the Cubs in the wild-card chase but slipped to five back of the Dodgers in the National League West, a predicament that doesn't overly concern Alou because the Giants play the Dodgers six times in the season's final nine games.

"Even if we're three, four, five games out, there's hope," he said.

Schmidt figures to get six more starts and perhaps two against the Dodgers, and the Giants need him to return to the form he had before he strained his groin on Aug. 17. Saturday, Schmidt threw hard and used an assortment of breaking pitches, but he wasn't sharp and reached 86 pitches before being pulled with two outs in the fourth inning.

He collected eight strikeouts and retired the 3-4 batters, J.D. Drew and Chipper Jones, three times apiece, but the rest of the lineup buried him, especially the 8-9 hitters. Charles Thomas tripled and doubled, and opposing pitcher Paul Byrd had two run-scoring singles to accompany his six solid innings on the mound.

Schmidt admitted to being tentative, wondering if he'd have a setback if he overexerted himself. "I probably should've thrown fastballs a little more," Schmidt said. "The groin felt fine. If anything, I probably held back a little more and tried to finesse it too much. I felt pretty good all week. In the back of your head, you kind of worry. You don't know what's going to happen if you rear back and let one go.

"Except for three pitches, I threw the ball pretty much where I wanted it. I didn't feel that far off, to be honest with you."

That snapped Ledee's latest hitless streak at 17 at-bats, and it wasn't even the longest oh-fer stretch on the team. Michael Tucker is 0-for-21 after going 0-for-3 Saturday.

Things are so bad for Tucker that he was hit by a pitch in the first inning, crawled around in pain for a few moments and began walking to first base, only to be called back by umpire Jerry Meals, who said the pitch was a strike.

Barry Bonds was back in left field even though Alou said he'd probably sit out the day game after a night game. But Bonds was so bothered by Friday's 5-3 loss in which the Giants wasted his three-run homer, that he told Alou he wanted to play.

In the eighth inning, he was removed for a pinch hitter, Dustan Mohr, who struck out.

Not His Day

Jason Schmidt didn't make it through the fourth inning against the Braves -- his shortest outing of the year. Schmidt has been a model of consistency this season, averaging 7.1 innings pitched in 25 starts.

Duration Times

9 innings: 3

7+ innings: 16

6+ innings: 2

5+ innings: 2

4+ innings: 1

less than 4: 1

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